After 6 long months, countless evenings and weekend, a broken back, and an empty wallet the day is finally here!

Yesterday heralded the completion of the theater!!!

Got the black panels on the front all finished, finished the remaining dozen wall panels once we got the fabric friday too.

Touched up the nicks in the paint on the bulkheads.

Also finally covered up the telepost.

Used up some of my left over ash lumber, just upholstered 4 pieces and made a box, then added some painted 90 degree moldings to the corners.

This whole time I have been struggling with how to do the masking system and sadly last minute had to forgo doing it.

Once I had things in place I just come to find that there is simply not enough room to hold the top and bottom bars without them being seen from the main seating area. And it just looked cheap and unfinished.

Had we got the 9 ft ceilings, or had we got a smaller screen, it would have been doable as planned.

But with just 6" clearance on top and bottom there was no good way to hide all the guts of the system.

On a positive note I did find something I was unaware of with the Panasonic projector.

It has a masking system built in!!!!

You can mask the screen down to 2.4.1. or any step in between.

Even had an auto-detect feature so when it sees 2:35:1 or 16:9 it can auto switch to a preselected lens memory.

I knew there was some mention of this in the past, but I had it in my head it was simply to move the screen image up or down while in 2:35:1.

Once I started playing with it though I come to find you can mask horizontally or vertically. All the way from 4:3 to 2.4.1.

Not sure if this is native to Panasonic only or if other projectors have this feature, but it is pretty great.

It is not as perfect as actually covering the areas in fabric, and it is still not pitch black, but there is a notable difference in screen contrast with it masked via software.

So at least this is an alternative.

All that is now left in the basement is some baseboard and about 5 ft of crown moldings and that is it.

Plan to have that finished up this week and then maybe I can finally find time to redesign the iRule remote I have been limping along til now.

I will try and snap some pics tonight, simply did not have the time yesterday.

Your room is really coming together. Hopefully some finished shots are on their way when the to-do list is done.
Frozen in 3D on Bluray? Must be a European disc. I'm still ticked at Disney for screwing over their North American customers.
Providing Frozen in 3D via $35 digital download only is marketing manipulation in action.

Your room is really coming together. Hopefully some finished shots are on their way when the to-do list is done.
Frozen in 3D on Bluray? Must be a European disc. I'm still ticked at Disney for screwing over their North American customers.
Providing Frozen in 3D via $35 digital download only is marketing manipulation in action.

Thanks much!

I am hoping to get some better pics this week / weekend.

I only have a point and shoot camera and been taking most shots with my phone only, so I am having issues getting good pics with the low lighting.

I will do my best though as it looks pretty great finished

And you are correct about Frozen.

The UK version is region free and for sale on Amazon UK, cost me $32 all told I think with conversion.

I am still perplexed with Disney on dropping the 3d version so late in the game, and if you wanted people to go digital here and wait for the 3d version, why have a region free release in the UK? They must have known tons of folks are going to import it.

My wife is out for the night so I decided now would be the best time to run my Audyssey calibration.

Things seem to work out mostly well now.

Just not 100% satisfied with the bass. It seems to have majorly gimped it.

Still have a little more tweaking to do, but I am thinking I will have to give it a manual boost as it just seems so low now.

I do know I like things a little bass heavy, but I have lost all my OOMPH factor it seems.

Been playing with it for an hour now and just cant get my sweet sweet bass back

I still have my SMS-1 so I will hook up the mic and do some playing this weekend. Never did a recalibration with it pre or post Audyssey and it still has all my setting from my last house, so I would not be surprised if it is messing things up a bit.

And if the panels have nuked some frequencies hopefully I can get the back with it as I desperately do not want to move my sub.

Last of the moldings here and there, paint touch ups, silconing, etc are all finished now.

Still have to work on a major heat issue I have.

I put in the new relays to turn the amps on via insteon, and added the 100cfm fan into the Av room, but results have been very poor and I am disappointed, when the room is closed up it is hitting over 100 degrees and the amps are shutting down, and the PC is crashing.

Not sure what else I can do.

Will be posting a separate thread for some help shortly.

it is fine with the pocket door open, but I really want to close the room up

Also rewired the concession to add a 20amp circuit, that was a real pain as everything is now complete, but got it done and we no longer have the circuit popping out when the Slurpee machine and the popcorn maker are on at the same time.

So I should finally have the finished pics coming next week.

Finally got some time arrange with my photographer friend next Tuesday so I should have them up mid week if all goes well.

I have done a ton of calibrating now and think I have the bass thing managed better, played with placement a bit, amazing how big a difference a few inches can make for response.

Got out the mic for the SMS-1 as well and that seemed to help a lot, had some huge dips in the 30-40 range, lots of tweaking but it is much bassier now, and sounds great.

Also got started on the projector calibration.

What a difference. I have yet to touch it since I got anything set up, and was really last on my list as it looked good enough to watch.

But post basic calibration and it look so much more vibrant.

Also found that 3d looks much better. Had tons of issues with crosstalk on a projector not know for CT, so it has been driving me nuts.

Still have some of the advanced configuration to do, but at first pass it looks much much better.

Having my first guys movie night tomorrow and we are doing Pacific Rim in 3d. Hence my need to fix my 3d issues

So stay tuned next weekend for all the pics.

I will be updating the first post to reflect the finished product, and may still keep posting any tweaks and such that are made and how I make out with the heating issues.

The room turned out fantastic. Thanks for posting the finished pics at the beginning of the thread so they are easy to find.
I know what you mean about the project's end being bitter sweet. Great to see it complete, but so much goes into the planning, building and agonizing over every little detail that the process becomes part of your life.
Glad you are enjoying the room.
Another great project to add to my picture archive.

The room turned out fantastic. Thanks for posting the finished pics at the beginning of the thread so they are easy to find.
I know what you mean about the project's end being bitter sweet. Great to see it complete, but so much goes into the planning, building and agonizing over every little detail that the process becomes part of your life.
Glad you are enjoying the room.
Another great project to add to my picture archive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by landshark1

Nice!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by iRadiate

Fantastic work .. a stunning theater room. Enjoy

Thanks Guys!!

So micro update, forgot to mention this before, but the new 300 CFM fan I put into the AV room is working wonderfully. The room was hitting over 100 degrees with the 100cfm fan, it is now sitting at 83ish when nothing is running and up to only 92 when I have been watching something, well within my comfortable levels.

Another thing to now, this thing is dead silent in terms of vibration, fan noise is minimal too, but for me it was the damn buzzing that could be head from the last fan. Even with it padded it still transferred through to the floor above it.

This one though offers nothing in terms of vibe and my wife even mentioned she had no idea it was on when up in the family room.

One last thing, I have added another new pic to the main page, this was the 3rd angle my friend took, it did not present nearly as well as the other 2, but it is still nice to see it from the other side. Enjoy!

So looks like because the ambient temps outside were still pretty cool when I put in the 300cfm fan, I was not getting an accurate pic on how hot it would be in there come summer time.

With temps soaring the last couple week I started hitting 100+ degrees again in the room.

I finally threw in the towel and bought a small in room air conditioner.

Pulled out the fan and returned it to Home Depot and snagged the air con unit for only $20 more on sale.

This has fixed the problem completely.

I put the exhaust into the return air vents in the house instead of pumping it outside, this saved me having to cut another hole in the exterior wall and does not seem to be negatively impacting the home furnace / air conditioner.

Temps now stay at 80 degrees and for the most part the unit kicks on once or twice an hour, so it is not killing me for power.

Popped the kilowattz meter on the outlet to monitor it and it will cost me about 35 cents a day to run it, about $10 a mo during summer months.

So looks like because the ambient temps outside were still pretty cool when I put in the 300cfm fan, I was not getting an accurate pic on how hot it would be in there come summer time.

With temps soaring the last couple week I started hitting 100+ degrees again in the room.

I finally threw in the towel and bought a small in room air conditioner.

Pulled out the fan and returned it to Home Depot and snagged the air con unit for only $20 more on sale.

This has fixed the problem completely.

I put the exhaust into the return air vents in the house instead of pumping it outside, this saved me having to cut another hole in the exterior wall and does not seem to be negatively impacting the home furnace / air conditioner.

Temps now stay at 80 degrees and for the most part the unit kicks on once or twice an hour, so it is not killing me for power.

Popped the kilowattz meter on the outlet to monitor it and it will cost me about 35 cents a day to run it, about $10 a mo during summer months.

I can easily accept that.

Underestimating the need for cooling and ventilation seems to be a pretty common mistake. My room was unusable during the four summer months until I installed a window AC unit a couple years ago.
It seems like many of the builds in these forums devote 50% of their time and money to soundproofing and HVAC. I'm sure our effective and reasonably priced, though somewhat noisy, in-room air conditioning solutions would generate a few snickers.

Underestimating the need for cooling and ventilation seems to be a pretty common mistake. My room was unusable during the four summer months until I installed a window AC unit a couple years ago.
It seems like many of the builds in these forums devote 50% of their time and money to soundproofing and HVAC. I'm sure our effective and reasonably priced, though somewhat noisy, in-room air conditioning solutions would generate a few snickers.

Well, I'm doing that mistake 'by design' to find out what the situation is before I spend any money on it. We don't have HVAC in our houses at all here, so perhaps we're less picky? Or I'm wrong and will have to try something else. I'm definitely not snickering at you.

Final build looks great. Im a big fan of ornamentation and trim like jeff does but your build has a great simplicity that I also admire.

Question. Did you ever consider rope lighting and crown molding inside your ceiling boxes? If you did consider it what made you change your mind?

Funny you ask.

One of the main factors for this was I come to find I HATE crown molding, not the look, but the actual installation. In the lobby, library and bathroom I had no choice but to use it due to the expansion gap I had to leave, I had such a hell of a time getting the cuts right and getting things to butt together nicely that I flat out refused to do it in the theater.

The only place I could have seen it working was above the second row of seats ,the main theater area would have been tough to do with the left side wall the way it was, I think I would have had to put in a bulkhead to accommodate this for continuity sake.

And ultimately without the crown molding, there was no way for me to nicely do the rope lights.

My original concept was even closer to Landshark's design with rope lights along the walls between the checker and solid brown border. Once I did the riser in rope lights I decided against it. I like the look, but I was not confident in the way it would be wired in. I tossed around a lot of ideas in my head and could not come up with a way to run it both safely and so it would look professional.

Something else that was a barrier for me was how to manage them. I would want that low lighting to be on before I got into the theater, but to be able to be turned off when we are ready to watch something. I would have had to put in a switch or something back at the base of the stairs to make this work, and sadly by that time I had everything closed up and painted in that respect.

So in the end simplicity won out and hopefully for the better.

Also, my wife really likes the minimalistic look of it compared to some of the uber theaters we see here, and at the end of the day a wife that will sign off on the theater design is worth her weight in gold

So looks like because the ambient temps outside were still pretty cool when I put in the 300cfm fan, I was not getting an accurate pic on how hot it would be in there come summer time.

With temps soaring the last couple week I started hitting 100+ degrees again in the room.

I finally threw in the towel and bought a small in room air conditioner.

Pulled out the fan and returned it to Home Depot and snagged the air con unit for only $20 more on sale.

This has fixed the problem completely.

I put the exhaust into the return air vents in the house instead of pumping it outside, this saved me having to cut another hole in the exterior wall and does not seem to be negatively impacting the home furnace / air conditioner.

Temps now stay at 80 degrees and for the most part the unit kicks on once or twice an hour, so it is not killing me for power.

Popped the kilowattz meter on the outlet to monitor it and it will cost me about 35 cents a day to run it, about $10 a mo during summer months.

I can easily accept that.

Underestimating the need for cooling and ventilation seems to be a pretty common mistake. My room was unusable during the four summer months until I installed a window AC unit a couple years ago.
It seems like many of the builds in these forums devote 50% of their time and money to soundproofing and HVAC. I'm sure our effective and reasonably priced, though somewhat noisy, in-room air conditioning solutions would generate a few snickers.

Very very true.

This is one aspect I am kind peeved about that I do not see more discussions on. I see these fantastic designs here, and there is a lot of focus on how to ventilate the actual theater and such, but it is very seldom discussed what is required to keep a media closet up and running, as the air exchange in those often times small closets is non existent.

I would have done things differently from the inception had I thought for a second that the cold air return would not be enough to suck out the heat.

I ma just thankful now that the in room A/C unit is working and also not costing me $100 a mo to run...

I still have one last thing to do in there now that again I would not have thought to be an issue.

I did not want to punch another hole in the exterior of the house to vent the A/C unit, so I just piped it into the air return and let it get sucked back to the furnace. Well boy was this a mistake.

The unit itself gets so hot and the air pressure is huge, so what I get is hot air coming out all the air returns in the house, hahaha.

So this weekend I will be getting out the reciprocating saw and putting in that vent after all. /sigh

One of the main factors for this was I come to find I HATE crown molding, not the look, but the actual installation. In the lobby, library and bathroom I had no choice but to use it due to the expansion gap I had to leave, I had such a hell of a time getting the cuts right and getting things to butt together nicely that I flat out refused to do it in the theater.

every time I read something like this I get further and further away from ever wanting to ever do any work on my theater. I don't care how much I have to pay.

every time I read something like this I get further and further away from ever wanting to ever do any work on my theater. I don't care how much I have to pay.

Sorry man, not trying to scare you off.

It is such a double edged sword.

On one hand, I have such a pride in my workmanship and I love being able to say I did it all myself.

On the other hand, I would not do this again, ever!

The problem always comes down to cash flow though. The only reason I could do the basement this was was because I did it all myself.

My brother in law refinished his basement when I was doing the theater. He went the route of hiring someone to do his. He put in one bedroom (into an existing mostly finished area, a bathroom (that had all rough ins already) and a small storage area, nothing fancy at all, just plain with a drop ceiling in the bedroom and storage.

It set him back $22000 all told....

That was my whole budget. There is no way I would be able to get the level of customization I wanted for less than probably 80-100k (this includes the whole basement), hell, when we first started down this road I had no idea I was going to do all the wood working myself in the library. I went to a local cabinet and shelf builder and I was quoted $19500 for wood veneer over mdf, or if I wanted real wood it would cost me just shy of $40k

I did it all myself out of real ash lumber for under $3000.

I am not saying it was without frustrations and it definitely took a ton of sweat equity, but at the end of the day, it is extremely satisfying.

Will there be roadblocks? Yes, will there be wasted time and money? Yes. Will you enjoy the hell out of it and forget all that your first movie night? HECK YES!

The Forums are littered with abandoned build threads. Most a pipe dream that never passed beyond the planning phase.
Those who have no past experience with building or renovating have no comprehension of the work...or money involved.
Then again there are many who enjoy the building process, learn as they go along, find that finishing is bitter sweet, and within a few years begin planning major upgrades or Home Theater 2.0.
You just need to decide which type of person you are and what your cash situation is before you even buy a roll of blue tape to mark out the screen.

The Forums are littered with abandoned build threads. Most a pipe dream that never passed beyond the planning phase.
Those who have no past experience with building or renovating have no comprehension of the work...or money involved.
Then again there are many who enjoy the building process, learn as they go along, find that finishing is bitter sweet, and within a few years begin planning major upgrades or Home Theater 2.0.
You just need to decide which type of person you are and what your cash situation is before you even buy a roll of blue tape to mark out the screen.

I'm afraid I've gone and done one step worse than that - I have a pile of blackout fabric sitting on my desk at home

I need to see what works and what doesn't and I think actually building a screen is the only way to test the possibilities.

I think it is very important to define what exactly you are looking for.
You can have a truly killer big screen entertainment experience with nothing more than a can of black paint, some black out blinds and careful selection of equipment (about $2500 if you have nothing to start). In fact I would encourage anyone first getting into it to start small so they can understand what their personal priorities are and even if the "Home Theater Experience" is a long term desire or a passing fancy.

It is only when you decide to go with a full blown home theater that things get hairy and expensive ($20,000++). Fabric wall panels, fancy trim, theater seating, zoned lighting, sound proofing, sound treatments and enough HVAC capacity to cool a nuclear reactor...the snow ball gets big really quick. All of that requires committment and passion... and a sizeable pocket book.

I started somewhere in the middle, with significant room modifications that have to some extent locked me in to a less than optimum setup. If I had just painted the walls black and bought an $800 projector I would have found all this out and been less hesitant to start over.

I think it is very important to define what exactly you are looking for.
You can have a truly killer big screen entertainment experience with nothing more than a can of black paint, some black out blinds and careful selection of equipment (about $2500 if you have nothing to start). In fact I would encourage anyone first getting into it to start small so they can understand what their personal priorities are and even if the "Home Theater Experience" is a long term desire or a passing fancy.

It is only when you decide to go with a full blown home theater that things get hairy and expensive ($20,000++). Fabric wall panels, fancy trim, theater seating, zoned lighting, sound proofing, sound treatments and enough HVAC capacity to cool a nuclear reactor...the snow ball gets big really quick. All of that requires committment and passion... and a sizeable pocket book.

I started somewhere in the middle, with significant room modifications that have to some extent locked me in to a less than optimum setup. If I had just painted the walls black and bought an $800 projector I would have found all this out and been less hesitant to start over.